Joe Lieberman

Mike Segar / Reuters

Senator Joe Lieberman speaks at the 2008 Republican National Convention on Sept. 2

A long-time Democrat, short-time independent, and former Gore running mate, he seemed a little out of place in the hearty Republican crowd. But the Connecticut senator scored a big round of applause with his "country over party" line. Spoke at length, if very generally, about his friend and colleague John McCain. Still, he lost the audience in the hall at many intervals  they chatted amongst themselves between tosses of red meat. Lieberman, more in sadness than in anger, argued unambiguously that Obama is not yet ready to be president, but confused the crowd by hailing Bill Clinton as a Democrat who really reached across party lines to get things done (grumbling and uncertain applause). Eventually, he brought the speech back to his party  hopping rationale with talk of Iraq. But all in all it was an odd, disjointed speech from a man with perhaps too many parties to make a coherent argument.